One of the most influential hip-hop figures at the turn of the millennium was white producer and rapper El-P, aka El Producto, born Jaime Meline in New York. 
El-P founded Company Flow with dj Lenny 'Mr Len' Smythe and rapper Justin 'Bigg Jus' Ingleton. They debuted with Juvenile Technique (1993). Their first album, Funcrusher Plus (Rawkus, 1997), an augmented version of a 1996 namesake EP, featured a second rapper and already displayed the off-kilter, abrasive production skills of the founding duo. But it was the instrumental Little Johnny From The Hospital: Breaks and Instrumentals Vol.1 (1999) that definitely broke with the past, introducing the most bombastic, ebullient and explosive style of the time, the apolitical successor to Public Enemy.
El-P also crafted the schizoid soundscape of Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein (2001), a project risen from the ashes of Company Flow (Vast Aire and Vordul Megilah). El-P probably achieved his artistic zenith in tracks such as Iron Galaxy. OXtrumentals is an instrumental version (i.e., a solo El-P album) of the Cannibal Ox album.
His first solo album, the sci-fi concept Fantastic Damage (2002), is a disjointed, neurotic affair. The double-disc Fandamplus: Instrumentals is the instrumental version of El-P's solo debut. High Water (2004) is an instrumental collaboration with Matthew Shipp's jazz crew (and belongs more to Shipp than to El-P). To El-P's credit, his stew of samples and beats blends seamlessly with the improvisation of the jazzists. Get Modal is the peak of their osmosis, with Shipp introducing a memorable theme, William Parker's drums dancing around it and entwining the saxophone, and El-P's vocals treated to the point of being just another form of beat. Intrigue in the House of India boasts another irresistible melodic pattern mauled by Shipp's piano, decaying into a liquid jam led by guitar, trumpet and electronic noise. El-P leaves a lot of space to Shipp and his comrades, refraining from invading the most romantic portions of the ten-minute Sunrise Over Brlyn (with the trombone acting as the main counterpart of the piano). Shipp's combo concocts a great adaptation of cool jazz to the age of sampling, but it is not clear what contributions El-P made to this album that justified his name on the cover.
Mr Len has released the solo album Pity the Fool (2001).
Relocating to Atlanta, Justin 'Bigg Jus' Ingleton released two collaborations with rapper Orko Elohiem under the moniker Nephlim Modulation Sessions, Woe To Thee O Land Whose King Is A Child (Big Dada) (2003) and Imperial Letters of Protection (2005), as well as his solo debut, Black Mamba Serums (Big Dada, 2004), recorded in 2001.
El-P founded Company Flow with dj Lenny 'Mr Len' Smythe and rapper Justin 'Bigg Jus' Ingleton. They debuted with Juvenile Technique (1993). Their first album, Funcrusher Plus (Rawkus, 1997), an augmented version of a 1996 namesake EP, featured a second rapper and already displayed the off-kilter, abrasive production skills of the founding duo. Released in the summer of 1997, this alternative hip-hop record pushed the bar for independent underground music.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FuncrusherPlus.
Mark your calendars, TMT readers, because now you got something to do. Well, okay, not “something to do” but “something to buy,” and in today’s world, is there a difference? No. So mark that fucking calendar already and save some money, because now you got “something to buy” on May 5.
Definitive Jux has recently announced to me, by way of Tele-Type device, that they will be reissuing Company Flow’s (genius, genre-shattering, status-quo-altering) full-length debut Funcrusher Plus. The album was the first great hip-hop album I bought because I wanted to, not just because my older brother told me to. Originally released in that wonderful year, 1997, to widespread critical acclaim, admiration, and respect from the hip-hop community, Funcrusher Plus is “widely recognized as one of the most influential hip-hop albums EVER, shattering conventions with its musical complexity and uncompromising lyricism.” That’s a fancy way of saying that hip-hop today wouldn’t be nearly the same (or as good) if the album didn’t exist.
Company Flow really want you to know how independent they are. This seems to be their primary mission, and Funcrusher Plus is wacked-out enough to satisfy that agenda. Building off some previously released material, most notably '8 Steps to Perfection,' CF often take a galactic-horror groove here, dropping in some skewed drumbeats and dense lyrics, forcing your head into a lopsided. Funcrusher Plus, an Album by Company Flow. Released 28 July 1997 on Rawkus (catalog no. RWK 1134-2; CD). Genres: Abstract Hip Hop, East Coast Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop. Rated #49 in the best albums of 1997, and #2469 of all-time album. Funcrusher Plus Composer: Company Flow Conductor: Company Flow Label: Definitive Jux Release Date: 2009-05-20 Rated: NONE Genre: Recording Maybe the best comment on 1998 underground hip-hop.
Company Flow, consisting of producer/MC El-P, MC Bigg Jus, and DJ Mr. Len, created a musical statement that stood in direct opposition to the hip-hop/rap stylings of the time. Company Flow did away with the last dying embers of the G-Funk era and rejected the new glitzy world that Puffy Dad was building -- instead, they opted for lo-fi, stark, minimalist beats and highly literate lyrics with intense rhyme structures. They also infused the hip-hop culture that followed in the wake of the album with a DIY aesthetic that lives on to this day. As far as I’m concerned, this album started everything that we know now as “Indie Hip-Hop” or “Backpacker Hip-Hop.”
Out of print since 2006, the newly remastered album will be available May 5 on digital, vinyl, and CD formats. The digital release will also feature rare pre-1995 tracks “Juvenile Techniques” and “Corners 94,” as well as post-Funcrusher tracks “Simple,” “DPA,” and “Simian Drugs.” The album will also be repackaged with its original artwork as done by Matt Do and graffiti legend EWOK.
Take it away, press release:
Company Flow Funcrusher Plus Rar
Company Flow Funcrusher Plus Remastered Rare Characters
Beyond amassing legions of fans across the globe, few independent releases in recent memory have received the level of accolades and kudos from journalists, critics, and artists of all strata as this landmark album. Now a new generation of music fans will have a chance to hear what the fuss was all about.